Computer to Replace/Upgrade Dell Inspiron C521

[axel]

Hi,

My son's three year old Dell Inspiron C521 motherboard has died. I have advised him that he should take the opportunity to upgrade the whole computer with a three year warranty rather than replace the motherboard with no gaurantee that other components may be damaged or about to go. He only needs the box, the monitor and all other peripherals are fine.

Any suggestions on a best value replacement for the Dell C521, which was sufficient for all his needs, would be appreciated. Budget £200-£300.

Axel

 

[Orcvader]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-265-OK&groupid=43&catid=1078&subcat=

Assuming you also need an OS, it comes to about £317.53

 

[axel]

Thanks for that.

Primo appears to be a very small company. Does anyone have any experience or feed back on their customer service?

Axel

 

[stulid]

Thanks for that.

Primo appears to be a very small company. Does anyone have any experience or feed back on their customer service?

Axel

Primo is not a company name, but the name given to that particular pc, it is built and sold by OCUK, so hopefully that gives you an idea of the customer service, feedback and experience.

 

[axel]

Hi,

Thanks for that. I have now ordered the Primo Drone for delivery on Tuesday. I have ordered it without the operating system.

Can I simply install the hard drive from his old computer which has XP SP3 already installed and is fully up to date. It also has all of his programmes, files and personal data intact. I would then set up his new 500GB hard drive as a secondary drive for extra storage.

Can anyone see any problems in this approach or give any tips?

Regards

Axel

 

[Orcvader]

There's going to be a lot of driver conflicts moving an OS from one system to another, I would recommend a fresh install.

 

[Anewbe4u]

Do a fresh install on the new comp, stick in the other drive, copy over all the docs and so on then format it.

 

[axel]

Ordered one which arrived the other day and now almost set up for my son.

Cannot get on the internet and a rep from BT after doing a few checks on the phone has advised him that he does not have a network card!

I have now re-checked the specification and can see no mention of a network card. I thought all computers these days had network cards installed, although there was no power cable supplied with the machine!

I have plugged the ethernet cable into something, so perhaps the network card is there and a driver is all that is needed. The XP OS we installed is about 4 years old and the preinstalled drivers are no doubt out of date.

Can anyone confirm that there is a network card? The error I get is "connecting through wan miniport pppoe Error 769: The specified destination is not reachable"

Assuming there is a network card, does anyone know the spec? How do I get the drivers when I do not have the specification, short of driving ten miles to my son's house checking the network card installed, driving home to download and then driving back to install?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Axel

 

[scrlk]

The board has one Ethernet port.